Valen's Background

[Crothian]

I like it. Assuming he survives that long, where do you see him at 10th or 20th level? Definitely martyr material here, or perhaps he will go too far in becoming one with the ooze and could be a compelling tragic hero. Maybe he realizes almost too late that oozes aren't misunderstood, they really are carnivorous monstrosities and as he gets more in touch with that aspect of his being he finds it hard to keep from consuming everything, like Tetsuo from Akira.

Or he realizes that oozes are deadly to man, and are feared for good reason, but keep an even greater threat in check, a threat that could destroy man, so he comes to terms with his place in the order of things. He'll always be feared, but he's representative of a truly crucial facet of life, and is respected by the select few that realize that.

Not that you need any ideas from me, just my way of saying there's a lot you can do with the character. Well done.

The campaign is already running, so I'm joining in the middle. He is 6th level (5 +1 ecl). The five levels are all cleric. His next level is Oozemaster. Unless something happens to make him turn from this path, his next ten levels are going to be Oozemaster. After that I have no idea. I guess I'd go back to cleric because the spells would be really nice. With the negatives to charisma he is not going to be able to turn anything, so I don't even care about that ability. I was trying to find a second prestige class that fit , but so far I have been unable to discover anything. However, there is a lot of Role Playing between now and then, so I'm sure I'll find something to in the next ten levels.

Oozes are misunderstood. They serve a very good ecological function. That, however, makes them no less dangerous. They are mindless things that just react to stimuli. As for them keeping a greater evil in check, that would be interesting, but that the DM's job. I don't think he's doing anything special with oozes, that would focus on my character too much.

I told Sean, my DM, that there are many things the character things are true that might not be. Valen's parents may still be alive somewhere. One would be elemental earth the other water. What exactly they are is up to Sean if he wants to do anything with it. Also, Valen is not the character's true name. He has no idea what name his parents called him. I thought that could be fun do something with that. The clergy all know of him, and mostly dislike him. I thought that would be fun as well; having the one thing that guides his life he most be his goddess, yet most of her people dislike him.

Another thing, and one I like the most, is the Spring of Conitz. It may or may not actual exist. Valen believes it does. But the other clerics might have made it up hoping Valen would go on some Fool's Errand. I liked combining the elements of water and earth (Valen's true heritage) and having that ring true for him. So, even though he is on a false road for who he is, there are hints of his own personal truth. Of course, now it's up to the DM to do anything with it.

 

[Crothian]

this seems not so much a character as the beginnings of a great adventure and a cool story, i really enjoyed it

Thanks, maybe I'll convert this into a Story Hour from a players ppoint of view. I don't know when this game is going to start up. We have a weekly and a monthly game. This character is for the monthly. The monthly game is for friends of the DM who drive up from Cincy. They haven't been able to schedule something for everyone. Becasue the game is only once a month, they only play if everyone can make it.

 

[Crothian]

Here is the stat block for Valen. I think I've encluded everything, I'm not big on doing these.

Valen: Male Para Ooze Gensai Cleric 5: CR6; Medium Sized Humanoid (Para Ooze Gensai); HD 5d8 + 25 + 5; HP 58; Ini +2 (+2 Dex); Spd 20ft; AC 21 (+2 Dex, +6 Armor (Breast Plate +1), +3 Shield (Large Iron Shield +1) Touch 12, Flat-Footed 19); Atk +6 (+3 Base, +3 Str) (1d8+3 Heavy Mace), AL: N; SV: Fort +11 (+4 Base, +5 Con, +2 Great Fortitude), Ref +3 (+1 Base, +2 Dex), Wil +8 (+4 Base, +4 Wis, -1 special); Str 17, Dex 15, Con 21, Int 17, Wis 18 (20), Cha 11.
Languages: Common, Draconic, Aguan, Terran
Skills and Feat: +7 (+4 ranks, +3 Int) Alchemy, +13 (+8 ranks, +5 Con) Concentration, +11 (+8 ranks, +3 Int) Knowledge Religion, +11 (+8 ranks, +3 Int) Spellcraft, +7 (+4 ranks, +3 Str) Swim; Great Fortitude, Spellcaster Prodigy, Endurance*
Possessions: Breast Plate +1, Large Shield +1, Heavy Mace, Clerics Vestments, Backpack, Wand of Cure Light Wounds 50 charges, Rod of Viscid Globs, Pearl of Wisdom +2

Spells: DC 16 + Spell Level; 0th level: 5; 1st Level: 5+1; 2nd Level: 4+1; 3rd Level: 2+1

Domains: Disease (Good Side), Slime

Domain Powers: Ability to tell a of a diseased persons time is up, Command Ooze (3/day, d20+0, 2d6+5 HD)

Clerical Abilities: Turn Undead (3/day), d20+0, 2d6+5 HD), Spontaneous Cast Cure Spells

Character Concept (from Quintessential Cleric): Godslave
Benefit: +1 HP per Level
Hindrance: -1 to all Will Saves

*Endurance: This is a background Bonus feat that the DM handed out to all PCs.

Edit: Added in the Bonus Feat

 

[Crothian]

A slight edit was added to the stat block, so I figureed a small post was in order for it.

 

[gamecat]

*Wipes a tear from eye, bursts into applause* Crothian, you're the best. I have never seen so much heart poured into a singe character. Even Westenberger the Jovial seems neglected in storyline in comparison. You da man.

 

[Crothian]

Thanks. GC. I haven't put this much into a character for a while. Actually, about 4 years. Of course in the past 4 years I've only played 6 characters. I think it's because I'm not running a game. I've got more free time because of that, it's summer, and other reasons.

 

[gamecat]

I've been playing for maybe 5 years... and switch characters or reboot the campaign every 6 mos or so... I should do the "directors cut" of WtJ and post him in all of his munchkin melee mage glory.

 

[Crothian]

I played him for the first time today. It was a lot of fun. He's more talkitive then I thought. He's a little on the trusting side, and answers questions honestly. He has nothing to hide, so freely talks to people that talk to him. He does not initaite conversation. He had his first taste of real combat, and faired very well. He stayed out of melee combat as much as he could. He never drew his mace. He has very few offensive spells, but does have some good utility spells. He did a fair bit of healing. We had another cleric that is much better at healing, but she died (how's that for irony?). Mostly, though, he's been a good mediator between PCs. Two Pcs were having a big aguement on where the party should go. Both were so set that they were ready to divide the group and go in completel opposite directions. He was able to step in, listen to both sides, gather more info for both sides and come to a logical conclusion that everyone is pretty much happy with.

Edit: Drowdude, I was wrong, it took me much less then five minutes to find this.

 

[Crothian]

Another month goes by and another session played.

The character has become a little impatient with the other characters. They take way to long to make simple descions. He is very resilent to damage (lots of HPs) so he just continues going forward and doesn't mind beoing heavily damage. I through on an Endurance spell and I can get of 70 HPs, pretty good for a 5th level cleric.

So, we orginally were going to go out of our way to try to get the Cleric resurrected. Hopwever, the players were confused as to how out of the way it was. So, one of them mentions they just happen to have a ring of one wish. Only drawback is it costs the wisher 2 attribut points of any one attribute of their choice. So, we wasted like 4 hours the first session and another 2 hours the second session, all the time there was this ring that could have solved it all in 2 minutes.

So, once that is settled we go forward and most of the time it's me telling the DM what we are doing while the other people talk about nothing. Their style of play is a little slower then I (and I think the DM and one other player) like. We would like to accomplish a little more a bit faster. I think maybe one or two of the players is not happy with my pushing things.

But we get into the dungion and for the most part things go okay. We face some shadows, and their miss chance really hurts. The fighter forgot to PA them, but still we did okay. My str was reduced to 9, and even with no spells to get that up that day I go forward. We fought some hell hounds and undead spiders, and some skeletons. Not too bad. Luckily we rest befoire the next encounter becasue it happened to be a Dragon. Due to an error in the DM's recording of the Dragon;s ability we win.

Valen is coming along great. He realises that mortals are very flighty and need guidance all the time. How these people get through their day to day lives without his wisdom is beyond him. They have short lives, yet the waste so much of it, it's actually quit sad.